To what extent does television represent 'a window of the world?'

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

To what extent does television represent 'a window of the world?' Television advocates often claim to present 'window on the world' - a picture of reality which gives viewers unprecedented access to the world outside their community or country. When television was first created many, such as Lord Reith, the first BBC general director and others claimed that even then that television would be a 'window of the world.' However, is this statement valid now, if indeed it ever did. To insinuate that television is a window of the world is to imply that observing the television is the same as looking out of a window in a house, however, the difference is a television set allows the audience to choose anybody's window of the world to look out of. To a certain extent television does represent 'a window of the world.' The reason for this is television allows the audience to see and experience other cultures, other countries that they may not, if it was not for the existence of television. ...read more.

Middle

In addition, it depicted how the fire fighters dealt with the crisis. Thus, this could be described as being 'a window of the world' because it shown an important event as it unfolded. Another genre where it could be argued that represents 'a window of the world' is soap operas, as soaps often portrays contemporary issues, such as domestic violence, paedophilia, and mental illnesses. In addition, often when we watch television we occasionally relate to characters in soap operas or in other types of television programmes, suggesting that the audience knows people who are like the characters, like friends or families, alternatively, they could have gone through similar experiences to a character, thus, suggesting that soap operas do in some way depict reality. Allen states that "One of the most popular images of a daytime soap opera is one who can't tell the difference between reality and fiction." A small minority of viewers does believe what they are watching is reality, and as a result viewers may send wedding ...read more.

Conclusion

However, it could be argued that television does not represent a 'window on the world.' The reason for this is because television programmes is constructed of highly selective images of what goes on in the world. Thus, television creates someone else's view of the world rather than reflecting. Also, television does not represent 'a window on the world' because television programmes is acted, and edited. Thus, television is carefully constructed to appeal to the target audience. In addition, television may represent 'a window on the world' for some, however, some programmes may be biased towards subjects such as politics or religion, therefore, and some programmes may not represent everybody's view without leaning towards one viewpoint. In conclusion this essay has addressed the question 'To what extent does television represent "a window of the world?" To a certain extent television does represent 'a window of the world' as it portrays real-life events. However, it does not always represent television 'as a window of the world' as television can be biased and does not represent everyone's 'window of the world.' ...read more.

Related AS and A Level Television essays

Men and women worked outside the home, usually in professions such as law and medicine. However, the focus of the programmes was on people discussing personal and domestic crises. Occasionally controversial social problems such as rape and murder were included and were for the most part, handled in a sensitive manner.

British soaps tend to be willing to engage in social issues much more then Australian or American soaps. Recently Eastenders has tackled issues of HIV, rape, drug abuse and teenage pregnancy. This is an issue which is a big problem in Britain, as we have one of the highest teenage

Monica is almost her mother figure. Rachel is a weak character unlike the next main character 'Phoebe'. Phoebe is different from everybody else in the sitcom. Phoebe is a vegetarian who has strong morals and feelings about certain things that few of the group do not really understand to any great degree.

I would imagine that these episodes are not unrealistic in the life of a teenage lesbian, but I noticed that they did not portray a fulfilled life for one. The steamy love scenes are the norm for heterosexual couples, yet when it comes to homosexuals, they are rarely even allowed to touch.

Their undemanding nature and emphasis on talk not action, means that a busy mother can catch the gist of what is going on merely through hearing what the characters have to say. Emphasis is placed upon the family, public situations and more often than not the community.

Talk shows do not follow a particular protocol, meaning that any topic can be addressed. The mere action of a D.J. posing a question relating to any topic and receiving feedback from the audience constitutes the genre of talk show to be exercised.

in any soap opera, because as you watch you like to believe that maybe this is what your community is like. The houses in the village are quaint, as you would imagine them to be, with small flower baskets outside the doors.

Unfortunately, the Post Office funded the BBC and prohibited them to talk of any public controversy, disabling Reith to develop the broadcasting side. The BBC was regulated and intervened by the government due to the company's monopoly status, signifying a more controlled channel.